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Note: Photographs linked below are courtesy of Arizona
Historical Society, West Point Military Academy, National Archives and Nita Stewart
Haley Memorial Library.
The Victorio War of 1879 and 1880 occurred because of the
continuing collision of culures in the American Southwest and had its origins in
the Grant administration's "Peace Policy" and the Indian Bureau's policy of
concentration. The Warm Springs Apache were repeatedly denied their promised
reservation at Ojo Caliente, New Mexico Territory. Their leader, Victorio, chose
to fight rather than submit. The U.S. Army's job was to force submission. Victorio
eluded the military for five months before bringing his people to Hembrillo Basin
in the early months of 1880.
The Hembrillo Basin became the scene of the largest Apache-Cavalry battle of the
Victorio War. On the evening of April 6,1880, two companies of "
Buffalo Soldiers,"
Afro-American troopers of the 9th Cavalry, approached Victorio's camp and were
ambushed by approximately 150 Apache warriors (Map #1). Taking advantage of the
limited cover on the ridge below where you now stand (Map #2), the troopers held
off the Apache throughout the long dark night. By morning,
Captain Henry Carroll
and seven troopers were wounded, two mortally, and 25 horses and pack mules were down.
As the sun rose on April 7th, Apaches had moved within close range of the troopers.
Just as the Apache prepared to attack, reinforcements arrived from the north and the
west (Map #2). The Apache abandoned their positions and retreated to the long ridge
to the south (Victorio Ridge) from which they fought a rear-guard action as their
women and children escape by climbing out of the basin
(led by Nana) to the south (Map #3),
The reinforcing troops included two additional companies of "Buffalo Soldiers," three
companies of Apache Scouts and one company of 6th Cavalry
from Arizona. Aligning
themselves along this ridge ((Map #3), the troops launched a frontal assault on Victorio
Ridge while 2nd Lts. Charles Gatewood and Stephen Mills led the Apache Scouts in a
flank attack (Map #4) on the Apache camp located behind Victorio Ridge and west of
Victorio Peak.
The strategy was successful as the Apache on Victorio Ridge retreated upon hearing
the shots from the direction of the Apache camp. Fighting a rear-guard action from
each of the ridge tops that rise out of the Hembrillo Basin (Map #4), the Apache
disengaged, leaving three dead on the field.
The exhausted troops fell back to the spring-fed arroyos, digging holes in the
streambed for water. Camping in the Hembrillo Basin overnight, the troopers marched
east towards the White Sands on the evening of April 8th. Victorio and the Warm
Springs Apache people fled west to the Black Range while their Mescalero allies
returned to Mescalero.
The battle at Hembrillo forced Victorio out of his stronghold and into a running
fight that culminated in his eventual death and defeat by Mexican troops. No other
engagement during the Victorio War brought as many troops into direct conflict with
Victorio. The Hembrillo combatants included representatives from the four American
cultures in collision-Anglo Euro-American, African-American, Hispanic and Apache.
The Hembrillo Battlefield is an excellent and well-preserved example of a battleground
from the tragic Victorio War, the last major stand of the Warm Springs Apache in their
homeland.
Second Lt. Walter Finley, Co G 9th Cavalry, echoed the sentiments of
Col. Edward Hatch
and many of the officers involved when he wrote in 1879:
"It is the old story, unjust treatment of the Indians by the Govt., treaties broken,
promises violated and the Indians moved from one reservation to another against their
will, until finally they break out and go on the war path and the Army is called in
to kill them. It is hard to fight against and shoot down men when you know they are
in the right and are really doing what our fathers did in the Revolution, fighting for
their country."
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